Meanderings of a Mom, Kidney patient, woman.

Woohoo! I got to overhead press the varsity bar! And other than adjusting to the weight the first time, it went really well. At the end of my 2 sets, we had time to do 3 more things, and I choose to press as one of them! So this was really like death by 10’s.

2 sets:

10 box jumps

10 pull ups

10 kettlebell swings

10 toe touch situps

10 overhead press (with 45 lb bar!!!!)

10 lunges

10 Mountain Climber

10 burpee’s

10 jumprope (suppose to be double unders…)

10 wall balls with 10 lb ball

Double Unders… the first set I just did 10 regular jump roping and then tried to do a double under… With some practice, I got 1 completed. Fell on my rump.. but completed it. 2nd set, I did 1 double under and stopped… then started again and completed 4 double unders. then it all came apart and I couldn’t quite get any more! But woohoo, it has been since Elementary school since I did any of those! So go me!

Other than being really sore atm, it was totally awesome! I am so freaking ecstatic that I actually used the varsity bar and that it wasn’t difficult. I am almost afraid to mention that E word! =) I also never used a kettlebell either. So that was pretty awesome too… I don’t remember what the weight was.

Burpees suck. I need more practice with those. Pullups were okay.

I walked easy for 20 minutes before training. My legs were really tight. Afterwards, I did intervals on the treadmill for 20 minutes.

I have the most awesome trainer and friend! They are truly good for my spirit! Between the 2 of them, they manage to support not only getting through a workout, but also through those times when you wonder if it is all worth it! Well, Andrew has been telling me that I have lost weight. Erin has been telling me the same thing. As has a ton of other people. Do I believe them… No. Why? Because the clothes I wear every day, fit the same way they did a year ago. I have a hard time seeing improvements in myself. Always has been an issue. Partly the reason why I started blogging about what I am doing at the gym. So I can physically see progress. Just go read the blog 3 weeks ago… =) Anyway, Erin gave me some jeans that don’t fit her any more! Which is enough to party about on its own. I was SO skeptical I was even going to be able to get a leg in them, never mind actually zip them up. You see, I have been to the stupid stores looking for pants to fit, and nothing seems to. So I just gave up and kept wearing the same stuff I have been. I hate clothes shopping in the first place. Well I went and picked them up and tried them on!!! They are a bit tight on me, but they fit!!!!! Like OMG, they fit! I was so shocked. They are 14’s! I was wearing an 18 if anyone cares to know. I don’t care who knows! I mean like really! A 14? Are you kidding me?

Merry Christmas to me!!!!

So today’s training kicked ass! I mean it was really awesome. Well at least that is how I feel atm. We worked on making things a bit harder which is always a good thing. And even though it was tough, I got through it. The elliptical is not my friend. OMG… I think I would rather row than do the elliptical. Yikes.

I did 4 sets today. I kept moving between them other when Andrew had to show up one the other guys at the gym! And he did! Way to Go Andrew!!!!

So the pull-ups, I have to remember a few things. Hands wider. Like on the outside of my shoulders. Elbows need to go up.. not out. Chin needs to stay on the right side of the bar. Yikes!!! The first set was easy… they progressively got harder. The last one I had to fight hard to get.

sumo squat thingies. They were overly difficult today.

over head lift thingies: These weren’t easy today. Toward the end I wondered if I was even going to complete them. But I did.. Mind over matter. But they were tough. 10-14 were anyway.

Butterfly situps… I normally like these. They are fairly easy to do now… Did you see that E word… yeah means we need to make modifications! ha! So before I was doing the situps with my hands over my head and the momentum of bringing your arms up over head as you sit up really HELPS alot to do your situp! Well, I graduated from that, to crossing your arms over your chest. Holy Sweet Baby Jesus! They went from rather mind-numbingly easy, to struggling. This is a good thing!

So Cardio: I hate cardio. I struggle with it.

Well it was suggested that I do the elliptical today. We are not friends. Frequent stops occurred. My thighs burned. Goodness gracious. Yeah… that sucked… But I am not going to let it ruin my attitude! I am really feeling great. Which is unusually after training. I normally just want to crawl back in bed and forget the world exists for 3 hours or so. But not today!

Yes, that is how I am moving between exercises today. I couldn’t catch my breathe but I just pushed through it. Well tried. I have a head cold and didn’t feel 100% but I gave a 100%.

500 meters on the row machine

15 overhead squats with 15 lb bar no additional weight.

18 grasshoppers

I managed to get 3 sets in 30 minutes. The first set on the row machine ROCKED!!!! My snatches looked good. squats I need to stay in my heals. 2nd set was much better than any of the others. Grasshoppers. don’t know about them. At the end of today, i was shaking. But it appears my work schedule might be changing a bit. And if this happens I will be able to get more gym time in!!! Yippee! How cool is that. Yes, I am fairly excited about that new prospect. We used the sissy bar today. However, we don’t do overhead squats regularly so we will have to work up to more weight.

Yeah! Almost to that triple digit number! I don’t know why that seems awesome, but it does. So today wasn’t easy, and I did 4 sets. But I felt good. Andrew helped me fix what ever the issue was on the bike that was hurting my knee! So yippee on that.

20 meter Bear walks with 20 lb dumbbells (40 lbs total)

12 -> 45 lb front squats

6 -> 90 lb deadlifts

24 -> butterfly situps

Bear walks felt really good. Last time they made me sick. I have to remember to keep my head looking up in front of me. When I looked down at the weights, things got so no nice. Front Squats: On rep 10, it was always ugly. I struggled to push through that one. and seemed to recover and do the last 2 with less effort. Deadlifts… Wow! I have to mentally remember to keep my arms straight and not jerk the bar up to start. Last set of those looked and felt the best. Situps… I was off on these today. They were not easy.

I really need to carve out some time to do pushups, pull ups (Maybe?), situps, burpees, at home on the days I am not at the gym.

We started with I don’t know how much weight on the bar (35 lbs maybe) and it was really easy. Okay, so lets not say easy, lets say not difficult… That is what I told my trainer anyway. We did 2 sets and after the 2nd set they were still really not difficult at all. So he added weight! Woohoo! Up to a varsity bar. I know most people are saying what is the big deal. Well it is visible progress! And I like doing clean and jerks. And even after the 2nd set with the varsity bar. They were getting harder, but still felt good. =)

10 clean/jerk (2 sets at 35 / 2 sets at 45)

10 throwups with 6lb ball (wall balls)

10 push ups

100 jump ropes

I did 4 sets of these.

The cleans felt good. Form felt good. Need to keep remembering to pull my elbows up higher. I get lazy with that when i start getting tired. The wall balls actually started to feel easier after doing the 45 lbs cleans. The ball felt extremely light. Pushups are kicking my butt. I am not sure why but they are getting harder again. =( Must do more of them in between training! So jump rope… This is so funny. The first set sucked. I couldn’t get coordination down to save my life. The 2nd set: all 100 in one go! 3rd set… Messed up on number 2. kept struggling through 40.. Then did a huge set from 40-94! Not too shabby. The last set was touch and go.

Cardio: Treadmill: 5 minutes at 15 resistance 2 minutes at 1 resistance. Waled at a 3.0 speed. Did that 3 times. I had to stop between the 2nd and 3rd set because I could feel my pulse behind my eye balls and that didn’t seem so good. So I sat down for a few minutes Let my pulse come down a bit and started up again.

Well I am now officially training 3x a week at the gym! Yeah! My trainer drew up the paperwork today! He totally rocks. Then off to the weights we went! It wasn’t a particularly noteworthy day. It was just another day.

We used the 15kg bar (or 33 lbs) no weights.

15 Thrusters with the 15 kg bar

row machine for 200 meters: Just Legs.

15 dips (I HATE these)

row machine for 200 meters: Just arms

We did 3 or 4 sets. I was trying to focus on form… So I lose count on how many sets we did. However, I was mistaken today. I thought there was 6k yards in a mile… there are 5200+ feet in a mile. Or approx. 1200 or so yards/meters to a mile. Give or take! That makes my sore arms feel better!